Mk1 gun carrier scratchbuild

[Rob Pulham]

Superb!

[LeeM]

Absolutely superb work. A masterpiece.

[Model Mate]

Just the very briefest of updates today….

 

I was finally able to break out the airbrush and compressor. On my old narrowboat, the 240V electrics weren’t up to the task of powering my Sil-air compressor, so I’d resorted to a fully manual DIY alternative – a garden sprayer bottle from Aldi and an assortment of valves and pipe fittings. It worked ok at first, but gradually slid in performance. My new boat has a sufficiently sturdy electrical system and I was joyfully reunited with the luxury of an efficient, powerful and quiet air supply – oh joy!

 

A few drops of Humbrol matt black and the pre-shading was done.

 

After it was sufficiently dry, I started adding a bit of paint to the seat units. I’d already poked a brush loaded with brown into each of the cabs. I’m thinking that attempting to get the airbrush in these would be a bit of a mess, so watered down Tamiya paint was my solution.

 

Kevin the paintbrush and a bit of drybrushing and oil washes left the seats looking very used.

 

[Bullbasket]

You're beginning to get the hang of this scratch building lark.  Superb work throughout. I envy your skill and patience.

 

John.

[Rob Pulham]

I know what you mean about a decent compressor.  I had a cheapo set up without a tank and the package included an airbrush. I really struggled and almost gave up on the whole idea when my compressor dived off the bench and destroyed itself. I took advice and bought a decent Iwata airbrush and compressor and I haven't looked back. 

[Model Mate]

Merry Crimbo everybody! I hope everyone had a nice time; too much food, booze, telly and of course, tank models! This is my 50th post on this particular subject, and it’s very nearly a year since I started, so I really need to pull my finger out!

 

So with a little break from work and some decent weather, I was finally able to make a dent in the paintwork for my (for too long) monochrome beast.

 

First the ‘dozer blade/sled. I’d attempted a few trials for this previously, using silver paint/hairspray/brown, but on reflection (pun intended) decided that silver was just not realistic. I brush painted the underside of the sled blade with a mix of Humbrol dark grey and a rusty brown colour with a dash of rub’n buff.

 

It came out a waxy, lumpy green colour - oops; not quite sure how that happened! So I sanded it back and repainted it a plain grey/brown enamel. This got a dry brush of Vallejo air-colour steel and a squirt of hairspray.

 

Reunited with my lovely compressor, and with very clement Boxing Day weather, I retired to the back deck and started spraying. I used a mix of Tamiya XF-72 and 64, varying the mix from 60/30 to 50/50 and wiggling it all over to get a marbled, mottled finish without obscuring the preshading. It looks totally over the top, but this is just an undercoat….

 

Once dry, I gave the dozer blade a scrub using a cut-down toothbrush and a bit of water. Two coats of hairspray would have been better than one as it was hard going, but I’m reasonably happy with it so far.

 

I applied two coats of hairspray over my marbled base coat and then sprayed a pretty uniform coat of straight XF-72 over the whole vehicle, adding a drop of XF-4 to brighten it up on the upper surfaces and panel centres.

 

I’d masked off the exhaust as it was looking pretty rusty already, and after the spray job was complete, I broke out Kevin the spiky-haired chipping brush and dabbed a few more rusty tones on it.

 

 

After a short wait, I tried chipping the paint - oh dear…. Note to self - don’t try chipping over Tamiya acrylics without a barrier coat. The top coat came off far too easily and the base coat wasn’t far behind, so the chipping exercise was altogether a waste of time and effort, though the marbled base coat showed through a bit anyway, as did the underlying preshade, so although it didn’t work as intended, I’m pretty happy with the look overall. I had been a bit worried that throwing all the paint techniques at this together could have resulted in an over-modulated harlequin (which while it can look really cool isn’t really my bag) so perhaps it’s as well that the chipping failed on this occasion.

 

I dabbed a bit of neat XF-72 on the worst bit, and rescued it reasonably well, but I’ll need to spray a few more bits (backs of doors and hatches etc.) so I’ll be able to smooth it out properly then.

 

After it’s second chipping scrub, the dozer blade got a fresh silver dry-brush using Vallejo model-air steel as quite a bit had got scrubbed off along with the intended Tamiya top coat - I really can’t recommend this stuff enough - very good metallic colour and dry brushes beautifully. As with all metal effects, it’s really hard to get across in a photo, but take it from me; it’s utterly convincing as polished steel. I also rubbed a bit of it on the rollers/wheels of the gun sled.

 

I unmasked the interior of the upper hull to start painting the inside. When I primed it, I used white Halfords primer to get an overall coat, and I’ll use this as the basis of the upper-insides. I don’t really know what the interior colour was - the card model had it all brown as per the outside, and I’ve stuck to this for the lower portion, but I thought I’d throw a bit of imagination at it to make it a little more interesting. The two large fans were shown in the card model as silver. I’m taking this to be galvanised steel, and I mixed a bit of steel and grey together to try to represent this, dabbing neat steel onto it while still wet in an attempt to replicate the random blotchyness of galvanised sheet. Not convinced this has worked to be honest, but I’ll try some other washes/glazes/dabbing later to see if I can improve it a little. It’ll be barely visible in the end, so no great shakes if it isn’t totally convincing.

 

The tracks were brush painted using Vallejo dark grey and Kevin got a second outing to add chips and scratches around hatch openings, grab handles and so on. As with the main paint job, I resisted following the well-trod path of light chips followed by dark grey inner chipping. I know it works well and I’ve seen some lovely examples, but I just think that I’ll end up over doing it, so I’ll just stick to what I know best for now. Even with pretty heavy chipping, using just the grey keeps it from looking too theatrical I think.

 

While I was waiting for all this to dry, I cleansed my palate with a nostalgia build - matchbox Renault and Char in 1/72 - great fun and totally OOB; brush painted using Hataka paints that I got with a tankette “all-in-one” kit a while back, and I was really impressed with how well they brush on. I’ve realised that display space is at a premium on my boat, so braille scale makes a lot of sense, and these were a great way to spend a day or so.

 

I must have been a good boy this year, because look what Santa delivered….. a lovely big (small) tank - hurrah! ….looking forward to this one. I think I shall have to consider 1/72 for my next scratchbuild….. hmm.

 

 

 

[Model Mate]

Happy New Year to all! I could really get used to this “time-off” lark – it’s great for model productivity.

 

I masked off the white patches and painted them in by brush – first white, then red – both enamels.

 

These patches, along with the overall vehicle, got a further round of grey chipping, as did the doors.

 

The other detail painting that needed doing was the ammo drums; leather for the containers, and yellow ochre for the canvas/webbing handles.

 

 

And then it was time for the gloss coat(s). Klear as usual, and applied using a large flat brush and diluted 50/50 with water. About 4 coats and I was happy with the sheen.

 

Once it was dry, I could start with the washes and so on, starting with some black and umber oils in the interior, and dot filters on the gun sled and main body panels.

 

I used a generic RAF lettering decal sheet to piece together the name and numbers.

 

 

More filters, a further gloss coat, and then the washes to come – I love this part.

 

My palate cleanser also got some attention during all this – here’s the little Matchbox set just awaiting a matt coat.

 

I'm even building up the matchbox diorama - the aim is to do these OOB old skool - i.e. no airbrush - and it's great fun. 

[ColonelKrypton]

Really starting to look good, not that it wasn't already looking good. The paint is really starting to bring the Mk.1 gun carrier together.

 

As to scale, in 1/35 the gun carrier must be quite large.  There is something say about 1/72 AFV's too. I have started exploring 1/72 scale AFV; I have build many hundreds of aeroplanes in that scale but never AFV's. It seems some subjects are quite suitable to this scale - the larger modern armoured vehicles for example, and a bit small for others - Great War era armoured cars for example. There isn't one scale that suits every subject.

 

I have also bought a couple of 1/48 AFV's and that scale seems to suit too - not to large like some 1/35 and not too small like some 1/72. Paper card modelers have their own "odd" scales. 1/100, 1/50, 1/33 to name a few and there are good reasons for those choices.  Many of the paper model designs such as the one you used for the gun carrier have been done 1/50 scale. Close to 1/48 and after playing around with a couple of 1/48 kits it seems that scale may be a good compromise between the larger 1/35 and smaller 1/72 - 1/76, not quite in the middle but close enough. Big enough so as to be easy enough to work with and small enough so that as not to want to get too carried away with adding extra detail. 

 

Seasons Best Wishes.

 

cheers, Graham

 

[Bullbasket]

Stunning MM, absolutely stunning. I think that I've used up all of my superlatives for this build, so I'll just finish with, well done.

 

John.

[Model Mate]

Ahh, thanks chaps! You’re right Graham, 1/48 is a good suggestion; I’ll have to invest in some of the Tamiya 48th range I think.

[Geo1966]

Just catching up with this. As so many others have said previously – Fantastic work!!! Really coming together now with the painting well underway. I am very envious of your skills. Well done and keep up the excellent work.

 

George

[RichieW]

I read through this entire thread yesterday (I'm really a biplane guy) and picked up so many brilliant tips on scratch-building which is something I became interested in during lockdown. I was wondering how to make the bigger rivets on a project and now I know. Solder balls duly ordered! This is such a brilliantly creative project, your skills and sheer cleverness are a truly amazing. 👏👏👏

 

Richie

[Maginot]

Looking good. Some interesting and effective weathering techniques. Thanks for sharing your methods.

[Ade Wild]

Excellent project, congratulations! 👍

[diablo rsv]

Very impressive, an excellent display of scratch building, you're tempting me to have a go. The colour looks right as well, so I have just ordered myself some for a future project.

 

Wayne

[Model Mate]

4 hours ago, diablo rsv said:

Very impressive, an excellent display of scratch building, you're tempting me to have a go. The colour looks right as well, so I have just ordered myself some for a future project.

 

Wayne

Thanks Wayne - yes, come over to the dark side! Picking a nice, simple project is the best starting point (flat armour, plain wheels/tracks and of course not too many rivets!)

[diablo rsv]

22 hours ago, Model Mate said:

Thanks Wayne - yes, come over to the dark side! Picking a nice, simple project is the best starting point (flat armour, plain wheels/tracks and of course not too many rivets!)

 

There are a couple of subjects that I'm considering both of which have plenty of rivets. I have a bit of a back log of kits that I really wanted to finish first but I may well make a start on one as a side project and see if I get hooked.

 

Wayne

[Model Mate]

Time for a wash! – well, I’ve finally mended my shower, so why not?

 

Before the washes, I added a few more dot filters to different panels, mostly using white on the sides to get a streaked rain effect, particularly on the upper hull.

Then I decided that I needed to fit the seat units, to enable the cab rear panels to be glued in place. These are the only doors/hatches that I’m certain I want closed, so it makes sense to have them fixed before I start the washes.

 

I have a fairly tried and tested process for washes. This involves an overall slosh-wash (or wet filter if you like) of very, very diluted burnt umber so it’s mostly just white spirit. I don’t dry out my oils before slapping them on; I think the oil in the paint keeps it moist for longer and allows subsequent washes to run well around details. I then leave it for a few hours, and then apply stronger burnt umber and black pin washes around details. Leaving to to dry a bit prevents the pin washes “rinsing” out the previous slosh wash. If I apply the pin washes too soon, I find I get tide marks around details as the first wash is cleaned out by the fresh one. I then let it all dry again for a few hours before re-applying pin washes where necessary to deepen their colour or fill in any gaps. Finally, again after a few hours drying, I dry-brush with clean white spirits to take the paint off the highlights.

 

This time though, I thought I’d mix it up a bit. The overall colour of this beast is not too far off burnt umber in any case, and by giving it a slosh wash, I was fearful that I would darken the whole thing too much rather than pick out details, leaving it looking like a battered old leather shoe. I applied a “pre-shade” wash – a black pin wash to the panel lines and around some of the details, the idea being that the following washes, being translucent, would allow the darker shadow to show through.

After thoroughly drying (a couple of days at least) I applied a pretty thick burnt umber wash in the form of a heavy, messy pin wash, avoiding covering the whole lot, so most of the panel centres at least, would be clean.

 

I planned to leave this for 24 hours and then clean-dry-brush off the excess, to leave neat build-ups around the details, some further darkened by the pre-shade wash.

Great plan; except I found that the next morning, the paint had pretty much dried, so 24 hours was clearly going to be a bit too long and gentle dry-brushing wasn’t having any effect – aaaargh!. I attacked the upper hull (the first part I’d washed) with copious clean white spirit and scrubbed away to try and shift the paint. I resorted to cotton buds and eventually it started to come off, leaving me, thankfully, with much the effect I’d been after, albeit with more effort than I’d hoped. As I worked my way over the model (following the order in which I’d applied the wash) things became easier, and by the end, it was working as I’d originally planned – phew; saved (just). Here’s how it looks now….

 

 

[vytautas]

Nice going, lovely detail, looks really good!

 

Vytautas

[echen]

8 hours ago, Model Mate said:

phew; saved (just).

Well held that man! Excellent recovery - if only they all got recovered that well.

[Model Mate]

The whole thing got a light drybrusing using a Vallejo khaki grey which is slightly lighter than the basecoat colour to pick out the rivets etc. The result was a very subtle highlighting of detail, but worth it I think.

 

I next wanted to get a matt coat and a bit of light dust on the carrier, and that meant getting the gun wheels fixed to the sides.

 

I’d already fixed some blocks to the sides of the upper hull in preparation, and these were fitted with little copper pins. A dab of paint on each of these and the wheels were offered up to give me drilling positions on the back of the wheels.

 

They went on pretty well.

 

As these are fixed only to the upper section, the roof can still be popped off for internal viewing. The chains holding it on need to be added and this could be a testing process, feeding them between the wheels and the superstructure, but I’m not sure I could have fixed them in place first.

 

I could then undertake a mammoth spraying session; first with some pale dirt/grey enamel dusted on the lower surfaces and then a load of Windsor & Newton matt varnish. While I was at it, I matt coated my little Matchbox tanks, only to discover that the pastel mud I’d added turned white – thankfully, I hadn’t added any of this to the gun carrier yet.

 

Looking at my references, it’s become a little clearer to me (I think) what the story behind “Darlington” might be. I have a half dozen or so shots and a film clip of “Darlington” showing it trundling down a track and then over a little ditch/dyke, covered in tarps, boxes, shells and squaddies. In the film, a word can be seen just under the gun wheel on the side, and I’m pretty sure the word is “supply”. Now these carriers ditched their armament and were converted to supply vehicles pretty soon after deployment, and the photos and film appear to be a staged publicity/propaganda exercise, so I’m now suspecting that the gun and wheels were fitted to “Darlington” either as part of this propaganda or that it was simply transporting the gun. Either way, it explains the multitude of stores and supplies loaded on it. I’ve not added “supply” to the side, so as far as I’m concerned, I’m propagating the propaganda!

 

Here’s my prime reference photo….

 

So with the outside of the vehicle mostly done, there are a few other elements that need some attention. Firstly the crew. Well, they’re painted and ready for duty, so that leaves the diorama base and the stowage.

 

On the front of the gun sled, there appear to be a bunch of wood and metal plates, sticks and pipes. One of these is clearly a corrugated metal sheet, so that was first to be tackled. I made up a template of plastic rods on a sheet of polystyrene and used this to emboss a sheet of wine top foil. I also dug out some wooden coffee stirrers and wider resin kit stirrer; scratching some with the tip of a scalpel to enhance the grain.

 

Here’s how they’ll look on the sled.

 

I also made up some other bits and bobs and applied a bit of paint – grey enamel and oil rust washes on the corrugated sheet, oil stains of various colours on the wooden bits, and grey+steel on the tube/rod.

 

As the weather is appalling, it makes sense to head inside, so I had a little fun making up some fanciful kit for the interior. A whiskey bottle and glasses from clear sprue plus a chess/backgammon box to celebrate the crew’s victories, some tea cups and a kettle for everyday sustenance, some rusty chain, an old cog, rope, blanket/tarp and a cloth to dress up the shelves.

 

The rope was made from a strand teased out of some embroidery thread which was dunked in diluted PVA mixed with some tan acrylic paint. I made a few of these; both long strands (single and double/triple for differing thicknesses of rope) and coiled rolls

 

I also prepared some lengths of chain. Two sizes, both dipped into rusty coloured enamel and hung to dry – nice beer by the way, a Christmas pressie from my son

 

To complete the rear interior, I fixed the engine in place using epoxy – don’t want to take chances with this as it’s pretty hefty.

 

 

 

 

[Alpha Juliet]

On 01/12/2022 at 13:24, LeeM said:

Absolutely superb work. A masterpiece.

I agree with Lee!  Amazing work!  In fact, I think Bovington Tank Museum might well be interested as this is a rare beast indeed - does anyone have connections?

Edited January 9, 2023 by Alpha Juliet
Update

[Model Mate]

1 hour ago, Alpha Juliet said:

I agree with Lee!  Amazing work!  In fact, I think Bovington Tank Museum might well be interested as this is a rare beast indeed - does anyone have connections?

High praise indeed! Thank you very much...

[echen]

1 hour ago, Model Mate said:

High praise indeed!

Well deserved!

[vytautas]

Most often, the models photographed at close range look like children's toys and do not feel the scale in them.

In your case, it's the other way around - what you're doing looks like a real tank on a 1:1 scale. Awesome result! 👍

 

Vytautas